Please note: we have been online over ten years, and we want The Trek BBS to continue as a free site. But if you block our ads we are at risk.Please consider unblocking ads for this site - every ad you view counts and helps us pay for the bandwidth that you are using. Thank you for your understanding.

Welcome! The Trek BBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans. Please login to see our full range of forums as well as the ability to send and receive private messages, track your favourite topics and of course join in the discussions.

If you are a new visitor, join us for free. If you are an existing member please login below. Note: for members who joined under our old messageboard system, please login with your display name not your login name.

No personal attack intended. Merely posting an observation, and one I am not alone in noticing (as anyone who can read the last two pages of this thread can see.)

Why do you constantly resort to attacks? Why do you find it so necessary to take shots?

I did read the last two pages. YOU were the only person to mention Vic. Not me. And I only mentioned the need to keep multiple hard drives so what happened to THREE different productions does not happen to others. I didn't mention any names. YOU DID.

You are the one who keeps bringing up the bad blood, not me. So how about you drop it so we can keep this thread on topic, which you seem to love to derail.

I'm open to editing it myself if Kevin gets too busy with his regular job. James knows I edit for a living. Once I was cutting on a scene from MIND SIFTER. He asked to see the scene, and I told him, "This is the rough cut first pass."
After it was over he said, "Man, your rough cuts are better than most people's finished work.!"

I can have it done in less than a month, even with my health issues.

If I can help, I'm here.

Pony, I have the Kitumba drive and we will start working on it down in the valley at Sol 7 studios (the first studio to have 11:1 Dolby). Let's chat to see if you can make it down, or I can copy the drive and send it to you and we can work in tandem.

BTW, regarding lighting, color and sound correction, if anyone has anything specific they think we should be addressing, specific scenes and such, please do email me with your thoughts and I will pass them around to the team. We are trying to turn this around quickly, but put all the effort in it needs. We welcome all constructive help.

My mentioning of Vic Mignona previously had to do with the glaring ommission of his title as director of "Kitumba." Aren't you a producer now at Phase II now? Aren't you running post on that very episode? Why was his title ommitted? I'm not trying to defend what Vic did or didn't do with the footage and the cut of the episode; I'm genuinely curious why his credit was (purposely? - see what I did there?) ommitted.

As for the "bad blood" surrounding Vic and you (and it's only seemingly you; GSchnitzer sure felt the need to comment to clarify your opinions and replies don't stand for the entirety of the production crew) I may have referred to it but I'm not the only one in this thread who has noticed that you refer to it ALL. THE. TIME.

Maurice commented on the fact that you CONSTANTLY kvetch about it. Any chance it comes up, there you are reminding us that it happened. You don't mention any names but we know who you are referring to. That's how pervasive it has become. Even GSchnitzer had to come in afterward to clarify that you're only speaking for yourself. I merely pointed out that I agreed with Maurice and then I moved on.

I'm scouring the board rules now... and darn it I just can't -for the life of me- find where any of that is against the rules here.

I will say, as a professional who has worked on a fair amount of Hollywood film crews and directed a hell of a lot of commercials and 1/2-hour live TV shows, I can tell you that Phase II's crew are the nicest, most decent people I've ever worked with. They are a pleasure to be with, and have put up with a lot of garbage on the job from NUMEROUS people who ended up leaving when it was clear there was a poor fit, or the group would not accept bad behavior. They've also dealt with a lot of unfair flaming on the internet.

It's been a pleasure to know these people at P2 and the greater STAR TREK community, and boy I gotta tell ya, during my recent hospital stay they raised a LOT of money to help this poor broke AIDS patient for my recovery and assistance.

Many people today would not bother; but my P2 friends, spearheaded by the loyal Alec Peters, and echoed by Rob Mauro and many others, set up a funding campaign for me to help with crushing expenses.

I also owe a lot of gratitude to James Cawley, who has always been there for me when I needed help. He even offered to give me home at one point when it looked as though I might wind up on the streets. Give me as in TO KEEP!!!

Not many people would step up like Alec, Rob, Kent Schmidt, James, and all my other friends and loved ones who I'm not mentioning here. You know who you are... you're angels.

To clarify - I never meant to impugn the character or the sincerity of the Phase II production crew.

I saw the Kickstarter for your medical bills Pony, and I did re-share it at the time asking my friends on FB to donate as I had. I'm genuinely sorry you are experiencing such health problems.

My only point above was as I described. A curious and obvious ommission from the cut that was shared here.

As Loken and I have danced this dance before I have no real interest in getting into another endless spin on the melodramatic merry-go-round of deflection with him so I tried backing off. I'm backing off now even though he'll probably swoop in here to have the last word. And that's fine.

To clarify - I never meant to impugn the character or the sincerity of the Phase II production crew.

I saw the Kickstarter for your medical bills Pony, and I did re-share it at the time asking my friends on FB to donate as I had. I'm genuinely sorry you are experiencing such health problems.

My only point above was as I described. A curious and obvious ommission from the cut that was shared here.

As Loken and I have danced this dance before I have no real interest in getting into another endless spin on the melodramatic merry-go-round of deflection with him so I tried backing off. I'm backing off now even though he'll probably swoop in here to have the last word. And that's fine.

Phase II is family. As those who actually go up there and work there asses off year after year actually MAKING fan films know. These are people who have worked together through long days and nights of shooting, produced something real, and shared experiences, while making no money at it at all (in fact spending our own money to be there!). And those experiences build bonds of friendship and more.

I would do for any Phase II crew member what I did for you, because that is what you do for family. And as you know, I am a person who takes action and does things. I don't sit behind the Internet and anonymously criticize people while not actually doing anything.

Mark Lewis, my post production supervisor and I will figure how to get you involved in the editing of Kitumba. Would love you to come see the Sol 7 Studios. At the very least, I have a ton of interviews that need editing I will get to you for Phase II and Axanar.

And if you need help getting that used car, let me know. I am back in LA tonight.

To clarify - I never meant to impugn the character or the sincerity of the Phase II production crew.

I saw the Kickstarter for your medical bills Pony, and I did re-share it at the time asking my friends on FB to donate as I had. I'm genuinely sorry you are experiencing such health problems.

My only point above was as I described. A curious and obvious ommission from the cut that was shared here.

As Loken and I have danced this dance before I have no real interest in getting into another endless spin on the melodramatic merry-go-round of deflection with him so I tried backing off. I'm backing off now even though he'll probably swoop in here to have the last word. And that's fine.

I wish you all the best.

Thanks so much, I greatly appreciate it!

No need to thank me. Besides, I'm a big fan of your "El Dorado to the Moon" video. I expect to see more like it in the future!

To clarify - I never meant to impugn the character or the sincerity of the Phase II production crew.

I saw the Kickstarter for your medical bills Pony, and I did re-share it at the time asking my friends on FB to donate as I had. I'm genuinely sorry you are experiencing such health problems.

My only point above was as I described. A curious and obvious ommission from the cut that was shared here.

As Loken and I have danced this dance before I have no real interest in getting into another endless spin on the melodramatic merry-go-round of deflection with him so I tried backing off. I'm backing off now even though he'll probably swoop in here to have the last word. And that's fine.

I wish you all the best.

Thanks so much, I greatly appreciate it!

No need to thank me. Besides, I'm a big fan of your "El Dorado to the Moon" video. I expect to see more like it in the future!

I hope to run that film at some of the bigger cons in the near future.

My Nixon short was run at a con in L.A. a year or so ago, and that was fun. It also ran at Fedcon, Germany to about 400 fans in the Main Room, and they seemed to like it from the reports I've heard. So bit by bit, I'm getting seen.

you should check out my latest, a trailer for Homer Hickam's novel CRESCENT. It's on YouTube as Crescent Trailer. I think it's Version 4.

Oh MY! Pony, those are magnificent! I'm really impressed with how Phase II and Star Trek Continues keep pushing the envelope of what's expected for an "amateur" production, because there's certainly nothing amateur about the special effects!

Loken wrote:

Pony, I have the Kitumba drive and we will start working on it down in the valley at Sol 7 studios (the first studio to have 11:1 Dolby).

Whoa! You weren't kidding when you mentioned you've got one of the best editing facilities in LA at your disposal for this. How on earth did you manage to pull that off? Are the owners of Sol 7 Trekkies?

Star Trek Phase II has been blessed with some of the best talent of any fan-film production. They aspire to and often achieve a professional standard of quality because the goal is to achieve a professional standard of behavior behind the camera as well as in front. All the shoots I've attended have been exemplary.

Where there have been problems, it has almost always been because someone forgot to check his/her ego at the door. This is true of any production. If you are not focused on doing the best job possible and making the best product possible, then YOU are the problem.

The blame game is a great way to destroy morale, but there are three other things that are also inappropriate in a professional environment: complain, compare, and conspire. "I don't like the way this is going. The other guy was a better director. Let's you and I take over." Every fan-film has had to deal with these problems. Because Phase II is the leader in fan productions, when these things occur they look larger. But yes -- situations have occurred -- it's fair to say that there are a few people who will not be invited back.

But while it's easy to say, "leave the past behind," it's also fair for professional people to warn each other about problems they have had to deal with so that others can also be aware and avoid the same mistakes.

Looking to the future:

James Cawley has consistently assembled the most qualified teams in fan-film production. When he brought myself and Alec Peters aboard to manage production issues, both in front of and behind the camera, we were both honored to become a part of the high quality team already in place. Our job will be to focus on streamlining the mechanics of production.

Because of Phase II's popularity, over the years a lot of people submitted scripts, a lot of people have declared for the parts they want to play, and a lot of people have offered to come in and direct. There's a wealth of ability available to us. It's overwhelming. And because there have been so many "that's a great idea" statements that have been perceived as "okay, it's a deal, you're up next" it has increased the challenges in front of us.

As much as I personally would like to see every commitment honored, I know that's not going to be possible. As much as I would like to see us shoot two full episodes per year, we have some work to do behind the scenes to get ourselves up to that speed.

We have several remarkable opportunities in front of us (that I cannot discuss until we have actual commitments), and all pending scripts are on hold while we see if we can make those opportunities into realities.

The other point that I want to make is a personal one. I don't want to put any script into production unless and until it is as good as any of the episodes of the original series. Story, idea, theme, structure, dialog, character, relationships -- all that stuff. It's not easy to write a great Star Trek script. We've seen the evidence that even some of the professionals in the film industry still don't understand the heart and soul of "exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations." It's my commitment that we will aspire to achieve the standard of excellence set by the original series.

I know that all of the people involved in the production of Phase II are thrilled by the enthusiasm shown by our millions of viewers. I know that we welcome the feedback of the audience. But at the same time, please be understanding that what we're doing is extremely difficult because it is almost all volunteer work. We're not perfect, but we are working for excellence.

Let me say it another way. We appreciate the cheers. You can hold the jeers. Not because we don't want to hear them, but because most of the time they're unnecessary. We're much more aware of our stumbles and bumbles and fumbles than you are.